It doesn’t seem like much, but 5 feet apparently can make a big difference.

Upset over a decision by the Columbia City Council to reject his plans to develop an area off Range Line Street because he wanted 30-foot light poles, Roger Moser said yesterday he has abandoned plans to build the first new grocery store in the burgeoning area.

"It’s over," said Moser, owner of the Moser’s Discount Foods chain. "We’re walking."

At issue is the city’s lighting ordinance - or lack thereof. Council members on May 1 voted 5-2 to reject the development plan, arguing that allowing the taller lights would be unfair to surrounding developments with shorter light poles and that light from the taller poles would spill onto the road. They would have approved the plan if the pole heights were lowered to 25 feet, they said.

However, there is no city law specifying light-pole height or commercial lighting.

In plans for the roughly 27,000-square-foot store, Moser wanted 30-foot light poles for the parking lot. He said the lighting would not spill onto Range Line, also known as Highway 763, and are actually more efficient than lights mounted on shorter poles.

"My lighting plan was not obnoxious," Moser said. "We had no light going off the property. Ninety-nine percent of the people that went to that store would have been very happy with that store and my lighting."

Moser’s Fulton-based company agreed to buy 3 acres in The North Woods development at Range Line and Smiley Lane earlier this year. The planned store would have marked the first new grocery in years on the city’s north side.

Population along the Range Line corridor has ballooned in recent years, with hundreds of new homes and several commercial developments taking shape. A Gerbes store on Paris Road has gone largely unchallenged in the marketplace north of Interstate 70.

Jay Gebhardt, an engineer representing Moser, told the city council at the May meeting that residents of north Columbia have been clamoring for a new grocery store.

"I’m really sorry that Roger is doing that," said Jerry Wade, chairman of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which voted in April to approve the plans, contingent on the light poles being lowered to 25 feet. "I would like to see that grocery store out there."

Moser’s pullout highlights the lack of a city ordinance governing lighting requirements, and the issue has been debated several times in recent years. The brightness of lights, the number of fixtures and the height of poles are frequent debate topics at council meetings.

Third Ward Councilman Bob Hutton, who voted with Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser to approve Moser’s development plan, said Thursday the city should have an ordinance in place if it’s going to tell developers how high light poles can be.

"If we had a lighting ordinance, then the engineers could design their lighting based on the ordinance," Hutton said. "Then they wouldn’t have to fight with us every Monday night."

Wade said the planning commission is expected to forward to the council by this fall a draft lighting ordinance with a mandated 25-foot maximum height.

Kevin Kearns, whose development company ALL LLC owns The North Woods site, said he was confused by Moser’s decision but vowed to find another grocer to fill the space.

"They both just got sideways with each other, and neither one wanted to give," Kearns said of Moser and the city council. "Who’s to say who’s right? I don’t know. Meanwhile, the north side of town is without a grocery store."

Moser criticized the city for not having a lighting ordinance but also did not rule out building a grocery somewhere else in Columbia. For now, though, he has only two words for the city. "It’s over."